Engineering Services NAICS 541330

Mar 21, 2025 - Engineering Group Grades US Infrastructure

• The state of US infrastructure received a grade of C, according to a recent report card issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) that rates 18 infrastructure categories. The C rating was the highest grade since the ASCE began releasing the reports in 1998. The ASCE cited increased infrastructure spending through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as the primary driver for the grade improvement. Types of infrastructure that received the highest grades included ports (B), rail (B-), solid waste (C+), broadband (C+), bridges (C), and hazardous waste (C). Areas that received the lowest grades included stormwater (D), transit (D), aviation (D+), dams (D+), energy (D+), levees (D+), roads (D+), schools (D+), and wastewater (D+). The authors of the ASCE reports urged leaders in Washington DC, “to continue sustained investment in infrastructure and build on progress made to improve infrastructure after decades of deferred funding and under investment.”
• North American construction and engineering spending in 2025 is expected to grow by 2% after increasing an estimated 7% in 2024, according to FMI’s second-quarter 2025 North American Engineering and Construction Outlook. Nonbuilding construction will lead growth in 2025, supported by solid public funding commitments with bipartisan support. Water projects will lead infrastructure spending growth in 2025 with a rise of 8%, followed by power (6%), sewage and waste disposal (6%), and highway and street (2%). Single-family construction spending is forecast to rise by 3% in 2025, but headwinds include higher costs due to materials tariffs, tighter immigration enforcement, and a lack of affordability. A recent jump in new apartment supply and unfavorable cost conditions will reduce multifamily spending by 12% in 2025. Nonresidential building construction spending will be flat in 2025, as steady growth in segments including amusement and recreation, educational, transportation, and communication will be offset by weakness in lodging and commercial.

• In April, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said it planned to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants for environmental resilience projects through the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, according to Engineering News-Record. FEMA aims to end the BRIC program and rescind about $882 million in unspent allocations for resilience programs and projects. The BRIC program was established in 2018 under the first Trump administration, and it received $1 billion in funding over five years through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The BRIC funds will either be returned to the US Treasury or rolled into FEMA’s existing Disaster Relief Fund. Supporters of BRIC suggested the rescission of funding was short-sighted amid the increased frequency and severity of natural disasters. A FEMA spokesperson said BRIC was a wasteful program that did little to help Americans impacted by natural disasters.
• In mid-April, a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to reinstate already-allocated funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). President Trump froze IIJA and IRA funding via executive order on his first day in office. The judge ordered the Departments of Energy, Interior, Agriculture, and Housing and Urban Development to release the frozen funding as the case plays out in court. In March, six nonprofits sued the agencies to gain access to frozen funding. The ruling unblocks funding for all awardees nationwide.